President Muhammadu Buhari has said that conflict prevention is the panacea to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union Agenda 2063.
Buhari stated this on Friday at the 76th session of United Nations General Assembly in New York, USA.
The President who listed the immediate causes of conflict however noted that steps to tackling the havoc isn’t easy except for cooperation amongst countries.
“We must deal not only with the symptoms of conflict but also the immediate causes that fuel conflicts in the first place. These include poor and undemocratic governance, human rights abuses, poverty, ignorance, injustice and inequalities.
“There are no easy solutions to these conditions. They require long term investments and more effective international cooperation. In this connection, my delegation underscores the importance of promoting peaceful, unfettered, and inclusive participation of states in global actions towards conflict prevention. This will facilitate the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union Agenda 2063.”
Buhari therefore urged leaders to adhere to their constitution as discarding it may generate crisis and political tension in the sub-region.
“In West Africa especially, our democratic gains of the past decades are now being eroded. The recent trend of unconstitutional takeover of power, sometimes in reaction to unilateral changes of constitutions by some leaders, must not be tolerated by the international community.
“Nigeria fully supports the efforts by ECOWAS to address this growing challenge and appreciates the support of both the African Union and the United Nations. In this regard, I would like to reiterate that as leaders of our individual Member-States need to adhere to the constitutional provisions of our countries, particularly on term limits. This is one area that generates crisis and political tension in our sub-region.”
